There have been three negative reviews posted recently– Unfortunately, these reviews are accurate and I am echoing what many have already said. I, too, joined the company right after the company had its first profitable year. By the summer rolled around, it was a completely different story. The company is a sinking ship - desperate to be relevant and profitable. There is a classic line in the movie Margin Call where the CEO (played by Jeremy Irons) says ‘So, what you're telling me, is that the music is about to stop, and we're going to be left holding the biggest bag of odorous excrement ever assembled in the history of capitalism.’ This quote comes pretty close to describing PlaceIQ’s leadership and product offering.
Awful C-Level Management
C-Level management is some of the worst I have ever seen at a company. More specifically, the management leading both Marketing and Business Development is extremely toxic, unprofessional, and caters to their personal interests over the needs of the people under them. Things like an award submission, where management was on the judging panel, was more important to focus on than other high-impact deliverables.
The fact that there was no true head of marketing was an injustice to the company's bottom line and to the people working within that department. There have been at least THREE complete team turnovers within the marketing team zone. When you look at the competitors’ marketing programs and initiatives, you can see how weak PlaceIQ’s efforts have been.
Favoritism
The favoritism was quite blatant at PlaceIQ. If you knew how to suck up to C- Level management, your work was recognized.
Few engineers, delayed Product Roadmap
The biggest problem at PlaceIQ was the lack of engineers required to do product related work. The few engineers we had focused on troubleshooting existing product work. This meant next to no work focused on new products, which then put the entire product roadmap at a complete standstill. The math is easy: No new products to address market needs = diminished revenue.
Frivolous expenses
Another pitfall at PlaceIQ was the unnecessary expenses the company has incurred. Things like themed company happy hours and seasonal outings are great to boost employee morale but not at the expense of compensating their employees properly. Additionally, PlaceIQ had no business of having a presence at Cannes Lion Advertising Festival this year. Given how the company has been losing money left and right since late last year, it is irresponsible for the C-level execs and a few privileged others to the south of France to spend an absorbent amount of money to rent a yacht and throw a party. Quite possibly, it was the last hurrah for these execs as they know they will likely not be able to attend next year.
Desperate to stay relevant
A few months ago, PlaceIQ decided to sell off its managed media business to Zeta. During this time, they essentially sold 25 employees into slavery to Zeta as part of the deal. Unsurprisingly, the management kept their favorites. The funny part was that for so many years, PlaceIQ’s managed media service drove the majority of the company’s revenue. On the PlaceIQ website, management wrote a blog titled ‘Returning to our roots.’ Clearly, it was a desperate attempt to mask the fact that PlaceIQ was no longer profitable.
